ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. –  “I had a dream, I wanted a cute boutique,” said Leticia Leyba, owner of Groove Boutique. 

Leyba made that dream a reality when she opened Groove Boutique last April. But burglars have chipped away at that dream since before she was open for business. The latest of five attempted break-ins at the Uptown boutique happened early Saturday morning.

Leyba posted video of the damage on Instagram. In the post, she says they’ve been cased multiple times and had someone try to hold up the store at gunpoint.

Groove’s door was locked, so she says the robber moved on to Pei Wei next door. Leyba says those issues forced Pei Wei to move out in December.

KOB 4 talked to Leyba after each break-in.

“It’s really frustrating. We’ve tried almost everything that we can do,” said Leyba.

She has told us she’s taken several measures to keep her store protected. For example, having security, locking the doors during business hours, and getting a concealed carry permit.

“I decided enough is enough, I had to protect myself. And that was after I contacted APD, I contacted the mayor’s office, I contacted city council. I went through all the avenues that I thought as a citizen, as a business owner, I could go through to get some kind of protection. They all failed me. So that’s when I decided to protect myself,” Leyba said. 

This most recent break-in happened days after city leaders and Albuquerque police announced a decrease in shoplifting in the area.

An APD spokesperson says from January to March of this year, there has been a 12% decrease in reported shoplifting.

An employee from Everest Cannabis Company – Groove’s neighbor – says nothing has changed.

“I’ve worked in Uptown for almost 13 years now. I don’t really think much has changed. I used to manage the Starbucks over here for a good amount of time. And sadly, it’s just kind of seems to be the hot place. We’re right off the interstate, there’s little restaurants, people get food. There’s plenty of people that are willing to give handouts. So it’s kind of a nice place as far as it goes. Sadly, I don’t think there’s been much of a crackdown on that,” said Levi Bruce, an Everest Cannabis employee.

 Bruce says Everest hasn’t been targeted, but a recent decision to stay open later has employees concerned. 

“They are extending our hours to 11. So we’re probably not going to be getting out till close to like 11:30, maybe midnight sometimes. Which does kind of put us a little more on edge, just because it’s a lot of females working here. We got a couple of guys, but we’re not always here,” said Bruce.